Meeting with tour helicopter operators

[MarkP]

One can talk theory but on Kauai a few years back several tourists drowned when a helicopter made a forced water landing.

I once asked the pilot who flies seaplane tours on Oahu whether he could land in the open ocean. I was fantasizing about spotting fish from the air, then landing and fishing for them. He said not really because of the roughness of the water. I had to admit that there had been times that I was trolling at 8 knots and getting my teeth loosened. On much of this coast the helicopter would immediately get rolled by the waves when it touched down. The occupants would then have to fight their way out of an upside down chopper, swim to shore, and climb cliffs while being repeatedly sucked off then violently reapplied to the rocks. Compare that to a successful auto-rotation on dry land, which you can walk away from.

[Frank]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP

One can talk theory but on Kauai a few years back several tourists drowned when a helicopter made a forced water landing.

I once asked the pilot who flies seaplane tours on Oahu whether he could land in the open ocean. I was fantasizing about spotting fish from the air, then landing and fishing for them. He said not really because of the roughness of the water. I had to admit that there had been times that I was trolling at 8 knots and getting my teeth loosened. On much of this coast the helicopter would immediately get rolled by the waves when it touched down. The occupants would then have to fight their way out of an upside down chopper, swim to shore, and climb cliffs while being repeatedly sucked off then violently reapplied to the rocks. Compare that to a successful auto-rotation on dry land, which you can walk away from.

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any chance of auto-rotating into a house, school, car, pahoa? just ask'in

[MarkP]

Of course. Just take the probability of a car hitting something and divide by a million.

[Frank]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP

Of course. Just take the probability of a car hitting something and divide by a million.

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wow! nevaa thu-ta of dat... what are da odds on da ocean?

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP

One can talk theory but on Kauai a few years back several tourists drowned when a helicopter made a forced water landing.

The occupants would then have to fight their way out of an upside down chopper, swim to shore, and climb cliffs while being repeatedly sucked off then violently reapplied to the rocks. Compare that to a successful auto-rotation on dry land, which you can walk away from.

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Take the above scenario.............500'over an ACTIVE VOLCANO, then talk to me about occupant safety.

If a tour boat was to have a catastrophic failure (capsize, hull breach, fire etc..) the occupants would have to: "swim to shore, and climb cliffs while being repeatedly sucked off then violently reapplied to the rocks."

If the ONLY way to a scenic site was over water, would the tour companies say, "no we can't fly there, it's too dangerous".

Anything can be justified and deemed permissible, if the money is right.

[MarkP]

quote:

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Originally posted by 4dognight

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkP

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Take the above scenario.............500'over an ACTIVE VOLCANO, then talk to me about occupant safety.

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http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Vol...-N789N.htm

Done

[MarkP]

Boats are designed the way they are for a reason, so they can navigate well in water. Helicopters, not so much. If a boat runs into conditions that it can't handle, imagine how bad it would be for a helicopter ditching. There is no comparison.